It was a calm, sunny Tuesday afternoon at the central Asian
landing site, with the three spaceflyers wearing broad smiles
after emerging from their spacecraft and breathing fresh air for
the first time in 157 days. All three were reportedly in good
health and spirits following the landing. NASA officials said the
Soyuz landed upright instead of tilting over its side due to
winds in a rare, smooth touchdown.

"Right now, the station crew is on helicopters," space station
flight director Dana Weigel said in a news briefing early Tuesday
(May 24). "Paolo and Cady will get on a NASA plane and head back
to Houston, and Dmitry will go back to Star City, [Russia]."

This was the first time that a Soyuz undocked from the space
station while one of NASA's space shuttles was also attached to
the orbiting laboratory. To mark the occasion, the departing
astronauts conducted a special
photo opportunity of Endeavour and the station.

Say cheese, Endeavour!

After undocking from the space station, Kondratyev backed the
Soyuz away and held the spacecraft stationary at a point
approximately 656 feet (200 meters) from the station. Nespoli
then moved to the upper module of the Soyuz and positioned
himself at a window to take a series of still images and video of
the stunning view for about 20 minutes. [ Photos
of Shuttle Endeavour at Space Station ]

"Is it beautiful?" one of the Soyuz crewmembers asked about the
view.

"It's very nice," Nespoli responded.

The only other time a space shuttle was photographed at a space
station was when the shuttle Atlantis was snapped while undocking
from the Russian Mir space station on July 4, 1995 near the end
of its STS-71 mission, said NASA spokesman Rob Navias.

"It was fantastic to watch it," Weigel said, "It was pretty
amazing. Dmitry's piloting skills were spot on. It was like
watching something we had done multiple times or had trained on
the ground. From a smoothness of execution, I could not have been
happier. I think we're going to get a lot of fantastic images
from it."

The unique pictures of Endeavour at the space station will be a
poignant reminder of the legacy of NASA's space shuttle program,
and the international cooperation that made construction of the
space station possible. [ Video:
How the Shuttle-Station Photo Op Works ]

"This is the first time we've ever done something like this,"
lead shuttle flight director Derek Hassman told reporters earlier
today. "It's unprecedented and we've worked hard to get here.
From a big picture perspective, it demonstrates the partnership
we have with our Russian colleagues and the things we can
accomplish when we work together."

Endeavour launched on May 16 to fly one last space voyage
before being retired. The shuttle's six-man crew is currently
midway through a 16-day mission to help support station
operations following the end of NASA's space shuttle program.

End of a long-duration mission

Prior to the Soyuz undocking, an issue was detected with an
electrical box that is used to house data from onboard payloads,
store digital imagery and send files between the station and the
ground. Garan worked later than expected to work on the cables,
and when the shuttle crew woke up that evening, they replaced the
box to resolve the issue.

About five or six hours of data were lost as a result, Weigel
said, and payloads throughout the station were affected. To
compensate for Garan's extra work, mission managers allotted an
extra three hours of sleep for the station resident.

Once the issue was resolved, the main focus reverted back to the
undocking operations for the three returning astronauts.

Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli launched to the International
Space Station on Dec. 15, 2010. They arrived at the orbiting
outpost two days later.

During their time on orbit, Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli
oversaw the last visits of two space shuttles – Discovery's final
STS-133 mission in February, and Endeavour's STS-134 finale,
which docked at the station last week on May 18.

Nespoli suffered a family tragedy during his stay on the station.
Earlier this month, his 78-year-old mother Maria Motta died of
illness while he was living aboard the space station.

Today's departure leaves Garan, Samokutyaev and Borisenko aboard
the station to host Endeavour's crew until they undock from the
orbiting laboratory on May 29. After that, the space station will
be home to only three astronauts until the arrival of three new
space station crewmembers in June.

Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, NASA astronaut Mike Fossum and
Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are scheduled to launch into
orbit on June 7. They are slated to arrive at the space station
two days later.

Prior to his departure, outgoing station commander Kondratyev
turned command of the outpost over to fellow Russian cosmonaut
Borisenko, who will preside over the station's Expedition 28. The
arrival of Volkov, Fossum and Furukawa will round out the new
expedition's crew.

You can follow SPACE.com Staff Writer Denise Chow on
Twitter@denisechow. Follow SPACE.com
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